STEM kits for nearly 11yo

[Dreamerinme]

Has anyone seen any good STEM kits please? DS really enjoys DT at school, particularly when they’ve had to build things and connect/wire up batteries etc to make them move/work.

I’ve looked at KiwiCo which looks like it has some good kits but I don’t want to sign up to a subscription.

I’m not after things like Galt Science experiments as he’s had all those and not fussed on them - he seems to enjoy the building and making things work side.

Snap Circuits are really good - seems v simple but can make really complex things.

Thames and Kosmos roller coaster engineer kit

Or if he is more in to physical building and gears then K’Nex, Meccano, or Lego technic

DS had all those from that age and still enjoys building “machines” at 16! (He plans to do engineering at University)

Depends how big a present you’re after. DS1 received a Raspberry Pi at that age and it’s still very much in use.

You can buy from kiwi as a one off.

We've got both Ds's the K'nex nerf type guns this year - sure that'll make for an eventful Xmas afternoon

Hot wires. My children got this a bit younger but definitely fine for an 11yr old. They're are other non-branded snap circuits sets on Amazon.

Gravitrax, also got many hours of play here and you can get expansion packs for it. Not exactly in your brief but I bet he'd like it.

We got DS2 THIS hydraulic arm kit when he was a similar age and he declared it one of his best presents ever!

I got DD a dremel soldering iron and some simple soldering kits like make an electronic dice and a light up tree when she was similar age. I think the key was to go for a proper set as they were better quality than the cheaper ones. The Dremel can also do wood burning pictures which she likes too